• Nikoletta Szabó, Zsigmond Tamás Kincses, Árpád Párdutz, Eszter Tóth, Délia Szok, Gergő Csete, and László Vécsei.
• Department of Neurology, Albert Szent-Györgyi Clinical Center, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary. kincses.zsigmond.tamas@med.u-szeged.hu.
• J Headache Pain. 2013 Jul 24; 14: 64.

BackgroundPrevious studies in primary headache disorders showed microstructural alterations in the white matter as measured by diffusion imaging. However these investigations are not in full agreement and some of those, especially in cluster headache, restricted the analysis to only a limited number of diffusion parameters. Therefore, in the current study we examined white matter microstructure in cluster headache patients.MethodsDiffusion weighted MRI images with 60 directions were acquired from thirteen patients with cluster headache and sixteen age-matched healthy controls. Tract based spatial statistics were used to compare white matter integrity in the core of the fibre bundles. Correlation of the diffusion parameters with cumulative number of headache days was examined.ResultsThere was a significant increment of the mean, axial and perpendicular diffusivity in widespread white matter regions in the frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital lobes. Reduced fractional anisotropy was found in the corpus callosum and some frontal and parietal white matter tracts mainly in the contralateral side of the pain. Axial diffusivity showed negative correlation to the number of the headache attacks.ConclusionsThe in vivo analysis of microstructural alterations in cluster headache provides important features of the disease, which might offer a deeper insight into the pathomechanism of the disease.

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